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New York-based Corning Incorporated (GLW) engages in numerous businesses including display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences. With a market cap of $40.9 billion, Corning’s operations span the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Africa while employing nearly 52,000 people worldwide.
Corning is gearing up to announce its fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Ahead of the event analysts expect Corning to report a non-GAAP profit of $0.56 per share, up a staggering 43.6% from $0.39 per share reported in the year-ago quarter. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It surpassed analysts’ bottom-line estimates thrice over the past four quarters while missing on one other occasion. Its adjusted EPS for the last reported quarter surged 20% year-over-year to $0.54, exceeding the consensus estimates by 3.9%.
For the full fiscal 2024, analysts expect Corning to deliver an adjusted EPS of $1.95, up 14.7% from $1.70 in fiscal 2023. While in fiscal 2025, its earnings are projected to soar nearly 18% year-over-year to $2.30 per share.
GLW stock has soared 52.4% over the past 52 weeks, substantially outperforming the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 24.4% surge and the Technology Services Select Sector SPDR ETF Fund’s (XLK) 23.9% returns during the same time frame.
Corning’s stock prices soared 4.7% after the release of its impressive Q3 earnings on Oct. 29. The company’s topline and earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations by notable margins. Driven by the continued demand for new optical-connectivity products for generative AI, Corning’s Optical Communications segment sales skyrocketed 35.7% year-over-year to $1.2 billion. Alongside it observed notable gains in the Life Sciences and Display Technologies segments which offset the topline decline in other segments and led to a notable 6.9% growth in net sales to $3.4 billion.
Meanwhile, its non-GAAP adjusted net margin expanded 130 basis points compared to the year-ago quarter to 12.5%, leading to 20.5% year-over-year growth in adjusted net income to $465 million.
The consensus opinion on GLW stock is bullish, with an overall “Moderate Buy” rating. Out of the 12 analysts covering the stock, eight recommend “Strong Buy” and four advise a “Hold” rating. Its mean price target of $54.46 indicates a 14.1% upside potential from current price levels.
